Weight Gain Food For Babies In Nigeria

In Nigeria, we love to see chubby babies. We know you do too.

In addition to this, we know you’re wondering what kind of food would make your baby gain weight quickly. As usual, we are here for you.

In this article, we’d introduce you to a variety of accessible and affordable Nigerian foods that can make your baby look chubby and healthy.  

In addition to availability, these meals are easy to prepare and digest.

1. Tom Brown

It is a thick brown powder made from a combination of yellow corn, millet, guinea corn (cereals), groundnut (peanut), and soy beans (legumes). Tom Brown is an easy meal to prepare that is essential for your baby.

In addition to this, it is quick and easy to prepare (just as you make your normal pap).

2. Rice Pudding

To make rice pudding, you need unpolished (brown) rice, milk, and a little pinch of salt. First, boil the rice until it gets tender. After that, add the milk and boil it again until it is soft. You can do this with milk from soya beans, coconut, or tiger nuts. Interesting things you can add include finely ground cashews, dates, or pureed fruit.

3. Boiled mashed beans.

Beans is a meal that’d certainly make your baby nice and cherubic. This is because it contains high amounts of protein which promotes growth. To make beans, wash the beans and boil in water until it is very soft. You can add ground dry fish powder or mashed steamed fresh fish or make tomato stew to go with it.

4.Nigerian Pap

Pap can be made from maize, guinea corn, sorghum, millet alone, or in combination. You may choose to add protein sources e.g. milk or powders from legumes or nuts such as soy and tiger nut, or powdered dried fish or crayfish while cooking it. Sweeten and fortify with pureed fruit or dates.

Ensure your pap is not bland so as to entice your baby to drink it. To achieve this, you can fortify it with breast milk, nuts, or even sugar.

5. Rice

This is a good source of carbohydrate for your little one. While preparing rice for your little one, remember to boil until it is soft enough for him/her. That is to say, your baby should be able to swallow the rice without necessarily chewing it.

Thankfully, babies can eat any form of rice ranging from white rice to jollof rice, fried rice, and even coconut rice.

However, make sure the stew isn’t too peppery. Likewise, the vegetables you use must be soft enough for your little one.

6. Yam & Beans Porridge.

This is one meal we’re certain your baby will enjoy!

To make yam and beans porridge, boil the beans until it is tender, then add the small pieces of yam. Remember to add salt, some chopped tomato and crayfish, mashed deboned steamed fish powder, and palm oil to taste. Furthermore, you can use honey beans, black-eyed beans, or black beans (akidi) instead of regular beans.

7. Sweet Potatoes

Just like the name, it is sweet! Boil the potatoes until they are very soft. It can be made as a porridge with onions, crayfish, scent leaves, or pumpkin leaves. Furthermore, mash the potatoes when the porridge is cooked to make swallowing or chewing easy for your child.

8. Oatmeal

This food is rich in fiber which aids digestion and adds bulk to stool. This will help your baby’s digestive system. You can choose to add any sort of plant or dairy milk and honey or fruit slices to taste.

9. Boiled Ripe Plantain.

Plantain is sure to make your baby gain weight in no time.

First, peel the plantain and cut it into slices. Then boil until it is soft, blend in chopped onions, fish powder or fresh deboned fish, crayfish, and palm oil. Consider adding finely chopped scent leaves, uziza leaves, or pumpkin leaves (ugwu) while still in the pot and serve. Unripe bananas can also be substituted for plantain. A sweet variant could be made by adding ground cashew nut powder and coconut milk to the mashed plantains.

10. Okro Soup

Okro (okra) can be grated to bits or blended and used to prepare a runny viscous soup with crayfish powder, chicken, beef or fish stock, ground ogbono (African bush mango), and a teaspoon of palm oil. Your infant can have this alone or accompanied with very soft amala (from yam or plantain), agidi (cold gelatinized pap), or tuwo (ground rice meal). Infants also love soups made from ewedu (jute mallow leaves) which have a similar consistency and are easy to swallow.

Do Drugs Really Make Babies Fat?

Yes. In cases of severe malnutrition and low birth weight, a pediatrician may prescribe certain drugs to make a baby fat.

These drugs include:

• Cortisol
• Other Glucocorticoids

Studies show that these drugs if administered properly, can make a baby fatter and healthier. Nevertheless, it is really important to receive a doctor’s prescription before giving your baby a drug to make him/her fat.

In Conclusion

Make sure your baby is above six months before you start feeding with solid foods. This is because every child should be breastfed for about six months to aid proper development. There are other signs that tell you your baby is ready for solids.

Certainly, these foods are effective for weight gain. Nonetheless, your baby may not like all of these items. You and your partner should carefully discover your baby’s preferences and focus on them.

Even as you try to make your baby grow fat, watch out for obesity. One way to track this is by calculating your baby’s body mass index (BMI).